Scream 4 starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette. Feat. Adam Brody, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin. Image via moviepostershop.com

Seriously? Another one? Coming to the theaters in April, we are faced with the 4^th and hopefully the last installment of Wes Craven’s Scream saga.

The first Scream was fun. It was entertaining, a little refreshing and well, thrilling enough. It was 1996 and director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson had created a nice teen-slasher that had a pretty cool cast too: Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard.

Well, with the exception of Skeet and Matthew, Courteney’s news reporter Gale, David’s Deputy Dewey and then student Sydney made it to Scream 2. Then 3 and finally, to Scream 4.

While I don’t hold a grudge against all sequels as a habit, horror/thrillers usually have a lesser chance of making the audiences happier as opposed to action or comedy flicks. Notice how Scream 1 started with 7.2 on IMDB and Scream 3 is currently at 5.3. I don’t necessarily always agree with the user ratings there, but this sounds fair- if not a little too generous.

But of course when you make a 4^th film, ,it is only a good marketing plan to add more famous people to the cast like Adam Brody, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin – and I didn’t notice half of them in the trailer.

It wasn’t just Scream that failed with the sequels, by the way. Horror-films mockery

Scary Movie was, despite being a little too crude at times, was hilarious. I barely remember Scary Movie 2 and 3 and I didn’t bother to see 4th.

So back to Scream 4. We’ve another mask-wearing psycho (or maybe more than one) with, a ridiculous motive, hunting after the cast. We will see if Neve Campell will survive. But I hope not because it just might indicate a 5^th film.

I am really not excited about Scream 4. Are you?

Fun notes:

* Courteney Cox and David Arquette met in 1996, during the making of the first Scream movie. They got married in 1999 and separated in 2010. So yep, the Scream saga outlasted their relationship.

* Courteney Cox isn’t the only Friends cast member Neve Campbell co-starred in a movie with. She also has a movie with Matthew Perry.

* Kevin Williamson is one of the developers & writers of the popular series The Vampire Diaries.

Also on Courteney Cox:

Courteney Cox Trivia

Cougar Town starring Courteney Cox, Josh Hopkins, Dan Byrd, Busy Phillips & Josh Hopkins

Hollywood Stars in Friends

25th Hour with Edward Norton — Edward Norton is great. The premise is just thought-provoking.

One of those movies where the cops piss you off and you root for the drug dealer. This is the third time for me;the first two being Tequila Sunrise with Mel Gibson and Blow with Johnny Depp. But Tequila Sunrise is an entertaining romantic thriller so the emotional impact of Blow and 25th Hour are really strong. However empathy only came with 25th Hour. Not put yourselves in the shoes of a drug-dealer, but because you get the pain of a man who has 24 hours before he goes to prison for 7 years.

Monty is a nice,smart guy. He is nice to his girlfriend (Rosario Dawson), his dad, his dog…He even used to be a promising student. But some early events have ended him up in dealing drugs and he was too late to try getting out. Cops bust him and he faces a 7-year-sentence. So the movie takes us on a journey as Monty tries to live his last free day to the fullest.

It is hard to dislike Monty. There are scenes he earns your understanding, sympathy and sometimes even respect. I like the internal conflicts, his relationships and the struggles of his friends.

Freedom is the most precious thing ever and Spike Lee did a great job in engaging us with Monty’s (Edward Norton) story. You like the guy and you feel sorry for him. The movie has some unnecessary scenes involving Monty’s friends’ lives that are not related to Monty and this slows the movie considerably at times but those friends are played by Barry Pepper and Philip Seymour Hoffman and their acting makes up for it. I still can’t understand why there is even a storyline featuring Anna Paquin’s character. Totally irrelevant.

But overall it is emotional and thought-provoking with fine acting. 7.9 rating on imdb sounds just about right. See it.

Other Edward Norton:

Keeping The Faith

The Illusionist with Edward Norton and Jessica Biel

3 Romantic Roles of Edward Norton

THE PAINTED VEIL with Naomi Watts and Edward Norton